Wednesday, February 22, 2012

As a follow-up of my last blog and the comments I have received, these are the most common names used for parts of the ca. 2400 km long mountain range in Norway and Sweden.

Scandes: Used by some people in Sweden. It is also used by a few geologists (well, at least one) for the mountains formed during the Caledonian orogeny, about 410 million years ago.

The Scandinavian Mountains: I’m not sure if this is used as a descriptive term in Sweden, or as a proper name. It is not used in Norway as far as I know.

The Caledonides: The rocks of the current range were deformed (and partly formed) during the Caledonian orogeny, but the current topography is believed to be of an entirely different origin than the Caledonian range (at least by 99,9% of the geologists..).

Kjølen/Kjölen: Refers to the mountains along the border between Norway and Sweden, although many people think the name applies to the whole range. In my opinion, it doesn’t.

The Geological society of Norway has started the work on launching a name contest, and more info will follow soon, according to the society.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

It may sound like a joke, but it’s true. If you don’t believe me, find an atlas or map and look up Scandinavia: A lot of elevated topography, but no name. I made the discovery when working on my new book Bergtatt (“In High Places”), about 3-4 years ago.

In Norway, there is a long mountain range stretching from the southern parts and all the way to arctic Finnmark County, but very few people have thought about it as representing a unified range. In addition, the range doesn’t have a name. Local and regional parts are named of course (like Jotunheimen and Rondane), but the range as a whole lacks a name. How is that possible?

A key reason is probably related to how Norwegians use the mountains. We go there a lot, either to private cabins or hiking, which puts the focus on specific areas and not an extended part of the range. And the mountain range is actually quite difficult to see from afar, in contrast to e.g., the Alps. There also used to be confusion about the relationship between the current mountains and the ca. 410 million year old Caledonian range which rocks are found in the very same mountains. Thus some called it the Caledonian range. Today we know that the mountains in Norway belong to a specific category of mountains that are present on passive margins, and mountain ranges of similar extent, altitude and origin are found around the globe (Brazil, South Africa, India, Australia, and Greenland).

In the 1940’s, the Swedish geographer Erik Ljungner suggested a name on the Swedish part of the range, the Scandes mountains. The reason was his like for short Alps-Andes-like names. Today, that name is commonly used in Sweden and by some Norwegian geologists as well, but is not a name that can easily be applied in Norway.

The geological society in Norway will launch a contest later this year, where Norwegians can have their say about what they think the mountain range should be named. There are already several independent suggestions around, and it will be exciting to follow the development. What about "The northern mountains"?

Me:

I'm a geologist at the University of Oslo, working as a senior researcher at Physics of Geological processes. My research interests include mass extinctions and past environmental perturbations - and the role of volcanism and metamorphism. My main interest besides my work is non-fictional writing. My first popular science book (about natural disasters) was published in Norway in 2006, and was released in the UK in 2009 and Italy in 2010. My second book (Bergtatt / In High Places) was published in October 2011. Topic: The history of mountains.